Putting all the basement imprisonment jokes to bed, OVO has by far proved to be one of the strongest collectives in 2020. While the world continues to await the release of the sixth album of their label boss, Drake, OVO has delivered quality music on a month-to-month basis throughout the year. Led by the return of PartyNextDoor and DVSN, fans have little to complain about with the music coming from up north. Joining in on the returns to the spotlight, Roy Woods resurfaced with a new EP, Dem Times.

Bundled with six songs, including the previously-heard “I Feel It,” Dem Times steps into a year where R&B has produced some of its best work in recent memory. However, Roy’s latest project does not arrive with the goal of matching the excellence brought forth in the genre. Instead, Dem Times recalls the palette used on his 2017 debut album Say Less and uses it to show the growth – both musically and personally – of the Brampton native.

Roy Woods’ debut was a calculated blend of gritty croons over drowning 808s and energetic rhymes led by uptempo production. While Say Less featured more of the former, Dem Times finds comfort in the quick-paced production. Just two songs in, Roy Woods dusts the three-year-old dirt off his shoulder on “Neva Your Way.” The track brings listeners to hi-hat ecstasy as Roy dismisses the desires of a certain woman in his life who throws a fit about plans not going as expected. “Yeah, girl, you tried but you still a lil’ deceiver / You ain’t none but a lil’ motherf*ckin’ diva.” Bursting through ceilings of confidence on “Cool J,” Roy compares his style and aesthetic to LL Cool J. “I been goin’ everywhere he can’t go / Cool J, n****, with the Kangol,” he raps throughout the song’s chorus. Gliding over the hard-hitting bass, Roy makes it clear he’s one of a kind when it comes to money, hustling, women, and quite frankly, everything else.

Despite the shift in production, Dem Times both begins and ends the album in the pocket fans most recognize him for. Backed by dreamy production, Roy brings listeners on a late-night drive on “2 Me.” As the song unfolds, he opens up about his relationship issues and frustrations with an unreciprocated love. “Why don’t you pay me a lil’ mind, but watch how you talkin’ to me,” he sings. “You keep sayin’ that you’re mine, but you don’t feel mine to me.” Once on different pages, Roy Woods assures his partner that they are both on the same page on “I Feel It.” Putting his feelings of pain and solitude on wax, Woods tells his partner that their frustrations are one and that she should not push him away, but rather bring him closer so they can work it out. “Don’t tell me where to go / I came to win too long for you,” he begs on the song.

Giving listeners more of the uptempo production than what was delivered on Say Less, Roy’s EP brings forth both good and questionable moments sonically. One of those comes on “Like Pascal.” A feel-good record that finds him balling on the level of Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, Roy veers a bit too far out of his lane on the track, even sounding like Playboi Carti at various points. With a sound so distinct and true to himself, the move sounds too out of the box for him. A quick bump on the EP, Roy returns to form on the following track, “What We Do.” The tune finds him looking back at his time back home, both on the streets and with his family. Taking a moment to think about the city he left behind, Roy sings, “I left my city, feel like I just split ways / Said I won’t be back for a while, should’ve seen her face / What can I say? I can’t even leave LA,” proving home is always where the heart is.

After an almost three-year wait, one would expect a full-length project to emerge from Roy Woods as it did with his labelmates. Instead, Dem Times serves as the segway between chapters, one filled with anticipation and energetic sounds that would have performed well in the summer that once was. The EP doesn’t shine as brightly as his debut album did, but its components give hope in the Brampton native’s future.

Dem Times speaks on the relationships in Roy Woods’ life. The lyrics detail the situations with little to no filter, while the production brings listeners a feeling similar to what Roy experienced in his anecdotes. The EP plays like a snapshot of Roy’s continuous growth as it flashes moments of maturity and awareness towards the needs of his partner while seeking to accommodate them. On the other hand, it also finds him a bit dismissive and focusing on flashy things in life and showing them off. Dem Times takes one last look at what once was and what may never be again before one moves on to what lies ahead.

Dem Times is out now via OVO Sound. Get it here.

Roy Woods is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The NBA has been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic for more than two months, and while there have been some steps towards a return — namely that players can workout at their team facilities should they so choose — there’s still plenty of ground that needs to be covered. Namely, the league has to figure out where it is going to play games, because while a bubble league appears to be the path forward, coming up with a location for said bubble league is still up in the air.

There have been several proposed locations, most prominently Disney World in Orlando and Las Vegas. On Wednesday afternoon, Sam Amick and Shams Charania of The Athletic brought word that hanging out with Mickey Mouse appears to be the most likely path forward.

According to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, there is a belief at Disney World that it will play some role in whatever the NBA decides to do.

Amick and Charania laid out some of the rationale behind the league’s thinking on its two primary potential destinations. While Vegas has been a destination for the league for plenty of events in the past, including its annual Summer League and the home of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, and there is plenty of hotel space for players to reside in, there are some major questions. Las Vegas’ mayor, Carolyn Goodman, had a widely-panned interview on CNN about reopening last month, although they did make it a point to say that the timidity that brought has waned as time has gone on.

But is Sin City the right place for a basketball safe haven? It depends on who you ask. Some players with families would surely prefer a place with more open spaces and less glitz and glamour. Players who are single, quite naturally, would be just fine in that setting. It also depends on what sort of condition Vegas might be in by the time they arrived.

Nevada governor Steve Sisolak launched a phased reopening plan that began on Friday, but casinos are not part of Phase I. The Nevada Gaming Control Board will reportedly have the final say on when casinos reopen.

As for Orlando and Disney, the appeal is obvious: There is more than enough space to hold everyone, while the league’s main broadcast partner is ESPN, which is owned by Disney. If the league were to pursue a return in a centralized location, Disney, one could argue, makes the most sense. And to top it all off, the concept of doing something at Disney appears to have piqued the interest of the company’s boss, Bob Iger.

Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger, who has strong relationships with Silver and National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul, attended the remote Board of Governors meeting on April 17.

“It’s about the data, not the date (of a return),” he reportedly told the owners that day.

A report on May 12 indicated that the league wanted to have some sort of resolution on how it was going to move forward in 2-4 weeks. The ball appears to be moving on that, and perhaps we’re not far away from seeing the NBA put forth a plan.

Last week, Sharon Van Etten linked up with Queens Of The Stone Age vocalist Josh Homme to share a cover of Nick Lowe’s iconic track “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” The duo now returns with a heartwarming quarantine-recorded video to accompany the haunting ballad.

Directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin over a phone call, the visual was shot from the singers’ respective homes. Van Etten, who is notoriously terse about her family life, offered a glimpse into her isolation with a glass of wine on hand. For Homme’s portion of the track, the singer similarly shows appreciation for his wife and two kids in the visual. Nick Lowe, the cover’s original songwriter, even makes an appearance.

In a statement alongside the visual’s relief, Homme discussed his collaboration with Van Etten further:

“I went to a Courtney Barnett Valentine’s Day concert that Sharon Van Etten was playing as one of a veritable buffet of musicians. She opened her mouth and my mind exploded—that voice, like fresh cream… with a hint of fine grit. When a week later the opportunity arose to sing with her, I jumped at it. This was of course before we had any idea that the world would be going into hiding for months. Recording this song had nothing to do with what we’d be going through… until we started going through it. In these times, it’s a blessing to feel lucky even for a moment… and I feel lucky to have been able to work with Sharon, Zach Dawes, Michael Shuman, Matthew Siskin and our families.

When you’re shooting at home you start out shooting only what you love. Then you get tired and stop. This video doesn’t deal with anything outside of what’s happening within its own little world we created — only what’s happening inside two households connected by what they love the most, nothing more.”

What Van Etten and Homme’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” video above.

It might be odd to imagine the lovable and squeaky-clean Mr. Rogers making money from gangsta rap, but that’s exactly what happened, according to Ice Cube. The West Coast rap pioneer related the story to fans during an Instagram Live session celebrating the 30th anniversary of his solo debut album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. While talking about the creation, reception, and impact of that album, he revealed that one person who received royalties from it would have been unexpected to anyone not in-the-know: The host of the educational children’s TV show, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, which was once sampled on the project.

The song in question, “A Gangsta’s Fairytale,” opens with a sample of a portion of the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood theme song, which the usually agreeable television host took issue with, suing Ice Cube for royalties and eventually prompting Cube to remove the sample entirely from later reissues of the album. As he told fans who tuned into his Live:

“I actually wrote this for Eazy-E. But y’all know what it is, we weren’t getting down at the time so I had to take it myself. It’s a trip because off this song, Mr. Rogers sued us. He was mad because we had the Mister Rogers theme at the beginning of this sh*t. ‘It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood,’ and all that. The n**** sued us and was getting like five cents a record until we took that part off.”

I’m not sure what’s funnier — the thought of the wholesome Mr. Rogers checking his mail for a check from an album called AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted or the fact that Ice Cube apparently doesn’t know the words to the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood theme song. In any event, you can check out the full Live stream above.

Like most fans, we’ve been keeping an eye out for updates about the status of Ember Moon, one of WWE’s most promising and underutilized female Superstars of the last few years. Ember hasn’t been able to wrestle since last September, when she tore her achilles tendon during a 24/7 Championship segment, of all things. Unfortunately, none of the news so far has been good.

Last night on WWE Backstage, Renee Young asked a panel that included Ember Moon, Booker T, and Mark Henry about moments in their career they’d like to do over. That led to Ember opening up about the possibility that she might not be able to return to the ring:

Just trying to think, like, I look back at my career in WWE — I’ve been here five years. And like yeah, I could go back and say “Yeah, I should have been the one to defeat Asuka’s streak,: or at least I hope that, or I could say “Aw, man, me and Bayley from SummerSlam… I wish I’d done more.”

The more and more I sit back and look at everything I’ve done and what I would re-do, I think more about my injury currently and realizing that I may have a career-ending injury. I’m coming back from the hardest injury and I might not have a chance to redeem myself of all the things that I wanted to do and all the things I want to do in my future. It’s just— It’s so hard to think back and regret, when I try to look forward.

Mark Henry had no patience for the idea that someone as talented as Ember might not wrestle again, and basically yelled at her, in the manner of a loving coach, not to give up. Ember then acknowledged that she’s not losing hope on getting back in the ring,

I keep looking forward and I keep pushing forward because this is what I love. This is my passion, this is the only thing I’ve ever wanted for myself. And I want that opportunity to not look back, but to look forward and be better than ever before. And it’s so hard to look back, like it really is. Gosh. I just feel like, thank you guys, but yeah, it’s hard. And I hope that I do have more matches, there’s so many more things I want to do. Like I said, I’m trying to get on y’all’s level. I’m going to prove to you guys that I’m worth redeeming those mistakes and worth redeeming those regrets. It’s just going to be awhile before I do so.

Hopefully we do get to see Ember Moon return to the ring, however long it takes. In the meantime, at least there are places like WWE Backstage where we still get to see her, and she still gets to participate in the WWE product.

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Bid adieu to blackheads, my friends.

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We need answers.

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Let’s get this party started.

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“I’ll just put you on my 3,000-follower Instagram feed, mostly loved ones.”

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